A known car washing machine, as shown, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Unexamined Patent Application No. 3-90456 (1991), comprises a car washing machine body installed on a floor, and a washing section, a waxing section, a drying section, and a vehicle transporting section for transporting a vehicle to be washed forwardly from the inlet port of the car washing machine body into the car washing machine body and for transporting the vehicle rearwardly from the outlet port of the car washing machine body by way of acting on the wheels on one side of the vehicle, each section being successively disposed starting at the front in the order mentioned.
The washing section comprises a pair of front brushes and a pair of rear brushes for washing the opposite lateral surfaces of a vehicle, a pair of rocker brushes for washing the lower regions of the opposite lateral surfaces of the vehicle and the lateral surfaces of the wheels, and a top brush for washing the upper surface of the vehicle.
Further, the vehicle transporting device comprises a first sprocket disposed at the inlet side of the car washing machine body, a second sprocket disposed at the outlet side of the car washing machine body, a chain entrained around the first and second sprockets, vehicle transport rollers disposed at predetermined intervals on the chain and adapted to rotatably abut against the wheels of the vehicle to advance the vehicle, roller storing means for storing said vehicle transport rollers below the floor surface before said vehicle transport rollers reach the second sprocket.
And a tire guide is disposed on the floor laterally along a wheel guide passage for moving wheel transport rollers in order to guide the wheels on one side of the vehicle from outside the wheels along the vehicle transport path so as to prevent the wheels from deviating from the path. A wheel guide passage extending along the vehicle transport path is defined between the tire guide and the chain.
According to the above arrangement, after a front wheel on one side of a vehicle to be washed have been positioned on the wheel guide passage, the motor of the vehicle transport device is driven to rotate the chain to cause the vehicle transport rollers nearest the front wheel to abut against the front wheels, said front wheel being pushed by the vehicle transport rollers; thus, the front and rear wheels run idle and the vehicle is advanced at a constant speed. At the same time, the wheels on one side are guided by the tire guide and prevented from deviating from the path. In this manner, the vehicle is washed in the washing section, waxed in the waxing section, and dried in the drying section. In this case, in the washing section, the vehicle is washed at its opposite lateral surfaces by the four brushes, i.e., the pair of front brushes and the pair of rear brushes, at the lower regions of its opposite lateral surfaces and the lateral surfaces of the wheels by the pair of rocker brushes, and at its upper surface by the top brush. And when the vehicle reaches the outlet port of the car washing machine body, the vehicle transport rollers which are pushing the front wheels are separated from the front wheels and stored in the space of the roller storing means. By this, this vehicle loses a pushing force and stops advancing. Afterwards, the following vehicle transport rollers reach and abut against the rear wheel of the vehicle on one side giving a pushing force to the vehicle, so that the vehicle is advanced again and pushed out of the car washing machine body. In addition, if the side brakes of the vehicle are actuated or the transmission gear is shifted to a driving or parking position in an automatic transmission system, the rear wheels are locked and hence do not run idle; thus, for the reason that troubles occur during transport of the vehicle, the parking brakes are released or the neutral position is selected so as to free all the wheels.
However, in the arrangement of the known car washing machine describe above, during the transport of the vehicle, the side brakes of the vehicle are released and the front and all the wheels are freed; therefore, the following problems accompany:
a. The conditions of the floor (slopes in the front-and-rear and right-and-left directions) and the reactions of the brushes during the car washing process may cause the vehicle to move unexpectedly, hindering the expected car washing from being smoothly carried out.
b. At the outlet port where the floor is sloped for the sake of drainage, there may be such a danger that the vehicle which has been washed is caused to run by itself by said slope of the floor.
c. A vehicle is washed as being transported with all its wheel rotating so that the vehicle moves in the right-and-left wheeling directions thereof. Therefore, tire guides corresponding to the width of tires of each vehicle need be provided. However, since there are a variety of tire width depending on the different sizes of vehicles, it is almost impossible to change the tire guide each time. Therefore, it cannot be helped but the medium-width tire guide is used in most cases.
d. When a vehicle having narrow-width tires is advanced on the medium-width tire guide, the wheels of the vehicle move right and left in the range of the width of the guide, occasionally jumping out of the tire guide. In addition, the wheel covers might be damaged by colliding against the tire guide. Furthermore, there might arise such a trouble that the chains be broken in contact with the wheels.
e. As a result of fixing the tire guide at the medium width, vehicles having wheels of wider width cannot be washed, thus limiting the kinds of vehicles to be washed.
f. If the car washing machine has gone out of order, a vehicle halfway in the washing process needs somehow to be passed through a transport passage, which, however, is not easy because the vehicle has to pass over the vehicle transport rollers.
g. If the parking brakes are actuated by mistake due to a driver's habit or any other reasons, the rear,wheels are locked and do not rotate, which causes vehicle-transportational problems such that the proceeding vehicle is left behind and then collided against by the following vehicle, or the locked rear wheels are forced to slide along the floor and worn out under friction.
Furthermore, since the vehicle is halted from advancing for some time and then started again to advance, the following problem accompanies:
h. For a certain period of time while the vehicle is halted from advancing, a certain part of the vehicle body is subjected to local spray watering from a water spray nozzle or a top blow nozzle, causing an unfavorable uneven washing.